Lionel Messi overtakes David Beckham in football rich list

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has ended David Beckham’s two-year reign as the best-paid player in world football, according to France Football magazine’s annual ‘rich list’.

Argentinean forward Messi, who scored a second successive La Liga hat-trick in Barcelona’s 4-2 win over Real Zaragoza on Sunday, has estimated annual earnings of €33 million, ahead of Beckham (€30.4 million) in second and Cristiano Ronaldo in third (€30 million).

Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho tops the manager’s rich list with €13 million per year, ahead of Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini with €12 million.

According to France Football, Messi’s annual wage is made up of a €10 million basic salary, €4 million in bonuses and €19 million from personal endorsements which include Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Gillette, Gatorade, Konami, Air Europa, Telefonica/Movistar, SportCenter/ESPN, Damm, Danone, Lody For Men, Storkman, Repsol YPF, SanDisk and Mirage/Seiko.

Despite suffering a slight drop in income from the 2009 list, Beckham places in the top two of footballers’ earnings for the ninth consecutive time. Part of Beckham’s salary decrease is due to the fall in value of the dollar.

The top ten:

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) €33m

2. David Beckham (LA Galaxy) €30.4m

3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) €30m

4. Kaka (Real Madrid) €18.8m

5. Thierry Henry (Barcelona) €18m

6. Ronaldinho (AC Milan) €17.2m

7. Carlos Tevez (Manchester City) €15.4m

8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona) €14.5m

9. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) €14.2m

10. Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan) €13.8m

Source: Sport Business